This text comes from our book, Light to the Nations, Part I.
As a young courtier, serving one of King Fernando and Queen Isabel’s provincial governors, Iñigo de Loyola was like other courtiers his age. The handsome young man from the Basque region of Spain enjoyed all the pleasures of court life, living in laxity and self-indulgence. Above all, though, Iñigo longed for the glory that can only be won in battle. Like the medieval knights, he sought honor and fame—the praise of men and the regard of ladies.
In 1517, Iñigo entered the army and spent the next few years fighting the French on the northern borders of Spain. But Iñigo’s life was not to follow the course he had mapped out for it. In 1521, while he was leading the defense of Pamplona against the attacking French, a cannon ball smashed into his right shin, breaking it. The French took Iñigo to his father’s castle of Loyola, where he had been born. There he had to undergo the pain of having his leg rebroken and set, as well as having a protruding bone sawed off. He endured all this without uttering a cry of pain.
After this operation, Iñigo was confined to bed. Bored, he requested a book—the kind of book that delighted him most, a tale of knightly adventures. When such a book could not be found in the castle, he had to content himself with reading a book about the lives of saints and their miracles—a medieval work called the Golden Legend—and another about the life of Christ. At first these works pleased him little; but gradually they inspired him with a desire for a glory different from the sort he had longed for before. Iñigo began to dream of the glory won by the saints in service of Christ.
Iñigo began to lead a life of penance. As the faithful had done for centuries, he went on pilgrimage, to the Benedictine abbey of Montserrat. There, abandoning his sword (and all his dreams of military glory) at the altar, he donned sackcloth—the poor dress of a pilgrim. A few miles from the abbey, near the town of Manresa, Iñigo found a cave. He remained there, living a life of prayer, for nearly the entire year of 1522.
The next year, calling himself now Ignatius, the soldier-turned-penitent set off on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He remained there, suffering many trials, until 1524. Upon returning to Spain, Ignatius felt the need for education. He went to Latin school in Barcelona, where he was the only adult among the children. From there he attended the University of Alcalá, near Madrid. At Alcalá, Ignatius was imprisoned for six weeks for teaching the Faith to children without permission. At the University of Salamanca, where he went after Alcalá, he was imprisoned again because he was suspected of holding heretical ideas. After being declared innocent and released from prison, Ignatius left Spain in 1528 and journeyed to what was then the greatest university in Europe—the University of Paris.
At Paris, besides studying philosophy, Ignatius spent time in prayer and in doing works of charity. He persuaded some of his fellow students to do the same. These young men were inspired by Ignatius’s dream of going to the Holy Land after their studies were completed and living as Christ did. On August 15, 1534, Ignatius and his companions took vows of poverty and chastity. They pledged to go to the Holy Land after they had finished their studies.
In 1537, Ignatius and his companions met in Venice to begin their journey to Palestine. However, they were unable to continue their journey because of a war that was then being fought against the Turks. Instead they journeyed to Rome, where eventually all were ordained priests. There they awaited an opportunity to take ship to the Holy Land.
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